My Artist Statement

My name is Robin Taylor, I’m a freelance Graphic Designer/Illustrator living and working in Melbourne with a focus on Comic Book art.

I was born in 1986 in the small country town of Seymour, Victoria, of the great nation of Australia. My parents were both teachers who greatly supported and encouraged my art.

Ever since I was eight years old, I’ve dreamed of becoming a great Illustrator. It’s my passion. I don’t care where I have to go or what I have to do to become a successful artist.

I’m greatly inspired by comic books and fantasy art. My first exposure to Spider-Man changed my life forever. I’m greatly inspired by artists like Todd McFarlane, J. Scott Campbell and Amanda Conner. My only hope is that I can some day compare to these idols.

My style consists of powerful bold lines and stark bright colour. My preferred mediums are pen and pencil, but I strive to diversify my skills and improve myself as an artist.

My greatest accomplishment in illustration came in March 2011 when an illustration of mine featured in a novel named Quest Of The Demon by M L Sawyer.

My ideal future involves me living and working in many different countries as a successful comic book artist… and I also plan to own a hoverboard.

Plans and Aspirations

A brief comic about my plans for the future.

Analysis of Skills and Interests

My main interest in art has been, for the better half of my life, comics. I’ve been drawing muscle-bound super-humans my whole life, so I pride myself on my understanding of anatomy and my ability to enhance and exaggerate the human form. In my later years I’ve expanded my interests from comics into all things “Geeky”. I’m talking about; Video Games, Anime, Fantasy literature and anything Sci-Fi. Lately I find myself becoming a huge fan of Warhammer 40k.

In my spare time I publish an online magazine called “Pop Culture Copy”, I just released my 15^th issue. Pop Culture Copy is a collaborative effort between myself and other artists online. I design the look and layout of the magazine, whilst other artists on the web contribute the body of artwork for the magazine.

My professional background is Graphic Design. In 2007 I graduated from University on a scholarship and have obtained an advanced diploma in Graphic Design. I have previously been employed by Cool Bananas Services; as their sole Graphic Designer, mainly designing websites, and also Astonishing Cards as a designer of greeting cards (on a freelance basis).

Recently I gained employment at Goulburn Valley Signmakers as the sole designer for the business. I designed layouts and prepared large scale prints for a range of different signage. This job taught me how to manage a large volume of work and meet tight deadlines.

My greatest accomplishment in illustration is yet to come in March 2011 when an illustration of mine will feature in a novel named Quest Of The Demon by M L Sawyer.

My peers and past teachers consider me an excellent Illustrator and I possess an advanced understanding of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign CS3, with a good understanding of Flash, Dreamweaver and Flexi Sign Pro. I also have become proficient in making websites with the PHP code based program; Joomla.

In terms of mediums, my main area of expertise lies in pen and pencil; I’m also quite adept with charcoal. I strive to develop myself as an artist and diversify my skills with other mediums. As an aspiring comic book artist, my three main areas I’d like to master are; pencil, ink and computer colouring. The problem with my ambition is that there’s only a handful of “successful” comic book artists in the world and a whole legion of wanna be artists trying to muscle their way in.

            In me you’ll find someone who is career focused, determined, enthusiastic and easy to get along with. I can multi-task, I have good time management skills and work well under pressure. I’m always on time and 100% reliable.

Work Evaluation

The work of mine I chose to critique is titled “Magnus The Red”. It is a fan piece that I created from the description of a fictional character of a science fiction book that I like. The materials I used are pen and ink, then scanned and coloured with my Wacom bamboo drawing tablet.

Despite being fan art, I had a fair bit of breathing room in terms of artistic freedom because there’s no official image for this character; though there have been a few interpretations of his look.

I originally created this piece in response to a fan art competition I entered at Supanova 2010. I got a lot of quality feedback for this piece from the artists at Supanova and their view has changed the way I see it.

A common complaint I received was that the background looks too flat in relation to the figure. This is of course true, because I wanted it to look flat. I wanted it to look flat and unremarkable, so the figure would have more prominence. Evidently, I actually made it more noticeable, by being over-simplified.

A positive comment I got was the colouring was very good. Which is good to hear because the colour took ages; way longer than the line work. I tried really hard to get the armour to look like gold, so I used lots of highlights.

Though I am very proud of my work, I (like most artists) am very critical of my own work and if I look at it too long I completely pick it apart and fill my mind with regret and thoughts of what I should have done. A prime example is; since I’ve been writing this, I’ve become extremely bored with composition. The pose is flat and dull. I now would have liked to do something much more foreshortened and dynamic. Also, I now think he’s too dead centre of the page. I think the picture would benefit from a degree of A-symmetry.

In summary, I’m still quite proud of the piece. I like my line work and the fact that I added more detail than usual. I’m proud of my colouring, especially because when I made it I was treading on new ground. However, I firmly believe the background and composition sorely leave something to be desired.

Self-Portrait 2

Oh, yeah! I'm surprised how well this pic turned out. This is just a practice sketch for an even better portrait I'm going to do.
This is the best drawing I've made since my last self-portrait. What does that say about me?

2011 Charcoal on Butcher's paper.

The Green Tiger in a Sea of Blue Grass

2011 Hand drawn with Carbothello pencils.
Not one of my preferred mediums, but I think I pulled it off. I'm proud of this one.